Movie Review: Star Trek Into Darkness
I finally got around to seeing this movie! Yay!
Sadly, two major things had already been spoiled for me, because I know how to put two and two together. You know what that happens? Like let's say when John Cho suddenly has a lot to say about racial diversity in the media and looks a little annoyed in interviews... or when you realize that if YOU were writing an AU Khan-story, YOU'D do a reverse on the Star Trek II ending, and you think back to that trailer and realize that yeah- there WERE "prison hands" and the human-looking one was definitely coming in on too low of an angle...
But, being spoiled didn't actually ruin the movie for me. I actually kind of like it sometimes when I know what heavy-emotional stuff is coming so that I can prepare accordingly. Not that I was emotionally unaffected by what I'm calling "The Reverse Khan"... you know why Vulcans aren't allowed to cry? Because it is fuckin' HEARTBREAKING.
And man, Chris Pine really was awesome in this movie, and so was Karl Urban. I really love him as Bones, I feel like every single scene he does is a love letter to Deforest Kelly, if that makes any sense. I think Pine and Quinto are trying to do something just a little bit different than their predecessors, which is awesome and makes sense from a character standpoint (their back stories are completely different now and would therefore alter their personalities), but Bones is essentially the same guy, and Urban has managed to pull it off brilliantly.
I always forget how over the top Scotty and Chekov's accents are. They're both Brilliant. I liked what they did with Scotty. I could have used a bit more Chekov, he seemed to barely be in it. Sulu got his little moment in the captains chair and that was cool.
... so, yes, I was spoiled for who Benedict was playing as well as The Reverse Khan, but you know what I wasn't spoiled for?! HOW AWESOME THE SPOCK-UHURA-KIRK THREESOME IS!!! Holy crow. How come no one told me about this? Every single scene with the tree were absolutely brilliant... I actually missed one of Kirk's lines, because I was laughing too hard at Spock's "unclear" line... seriously. You know, when I saw the first movie, I was really skeptical about the Uhura-Spock relationship, because I didn't want Uhura to be a love-interest... but it's kind of a bit like Zoe and Wash on Firefly really... I mean, it's not Uhura's SOLE purpose... and the fact of the matter is that I absolutely love how they've brought her more to the forefront and given her and Kirk this complete BFF dynamic, where he actually TELLS her how he's feeling and she drags him into their fights as a third party... and yeah, it's all pretty awesome. On the old series, and you'll have to forgive me for not having seen it for many many years, but I remember Uhura was mostly just a glorified secretary. I know she broke boundaries and did amazing things for equality and whatnot, but umm...yeah, I just remember he being the "phone girl". So, I really like that they're having her march up to Klingons and get into phaser fights and get beamed onto a movie transport so that she can stop a Vulcan from murdering someone for killing their third.
And meanwhile the Bones-Spock dynamic continues to be awesome.
Technical observations: Less lens flare!! Good job, J.J.!
As far as the other "twists" in the movie, I think I saw them coming when I was supposed to. As soon as Scotty said that he didn't know what was in the torpedoes, I figured that the admiral was probably a douchebag that was trying to start a war, and he was purposefully using Kirk's rage to his own advantage.
Anyway, yeah, good movie. As much as I agree with John Cho about pretty much everything he ever says, Benedict did a great job as Khan, I thought. There were only a few moments when I got a bit jarred with him reminding me more of Sherlock, and that was mainly when he was doing his rapid fire speech on board the military ship and whatever the hell they had to do there.
What else, what else? Is that it?
Oh, let's talk about The Reverse Khan ending again. I think the original Spock's death was more hard hitting, because they actually did the whole funeral and speech and HORRIBLE FINALITY thing...whereas this one, McCoy's eyes only just start watering when that tribble breathes and he realizes that Kirk is only "mostly dead"...but that being said, I don't think this franchise needs a "Search for Kirk" and BECAUSE this death has happened before and not been final, I think we're already expecting a miracle, so you might as well wrap it all up nicely in the one movie (because with the industry and J.J. Abrams being what they are, who knows when/if we'll get a third.) So, yeah, completely forgive them for not dwelling too long in the grief, plus you get the cool RAGE!SPOCK and then the tension of how to STOP Rage!Spock from Rage!Killing.
Just, FYI, I really love how they've kind of... rejigged Spock a bit in these AUs, because his human side really comes out the way a HUMAN would, in that when they've been repressed for a long time, they erupt like the holy wrath of hell. Spock can be a vulcan all he wants, but as soon as that control slips, he's NOT a well balanced in-control human, he's just as much of a fucked up mess as Kirk. I'd actually argue that Bones is the most well-balanced among the men. Uhura, of course, is also very well balanced emotionally, which is I think why she can date Spock.
Also, did they just add another female character to the crew? That's pretty sweet. I completely forget her name now. Marcus? Wallace? Karen? Kira? Anyway, I like her cute little sixties outfit.
(Oh yeah, and gratuitous underwear scene was gratuitous, I agree, my fellow feminists... I demand all males be completely naked for the duration of the third movie as a gesture of apology.)
Anyway, I'm glad whatshername is sticking around (hopefully she's sticking around). She was pretty awesome. At first, I thought that she might be in league with the enemy, but I was happy that she wasn't. Also, her whole trying to runaway from being transported thing was kind of terrifying... I mean... what did she think would happen? YOUR MOLECULES ARE BEING REPLICATED ELSEWHERE AND YOU ARE CEASING TO EXIST WHERE YOU ARE. FOR GOD'S SAKE, STAND STILL!
So yeah... good times...
I want to watch the movie again, damn it. Mmm...well, I'm sure I'll "watch" it again in gif format on Tumblr (that's how I watch Teen Wolf). One of these days though, I'm going to have to learn not to be a cheap bastard and start buying movies again.
Anywho, let me know if you want to discuss anything in comments! There will be spoilers galore of course, so don't go into comments unless you want to be spoilered for the movie or you've already seen it.
Sadly, two major things had already been spoiled for me, because I know how to put two and two together. You know what that happens? Like let's say when John Cho suddenly has a lot to say about racial diversity in the media and looks a little annoyed in interviews... or when you realize that if YOU were writing an AU Khan-story, YOU'D do a reverse on the Star Trek II ending, and you think back to that trailer and realize that yeah- there WERE "prison hands" and the human-looking one was definitely coming in on too low of an angle...
But, being spoiled didn't actually ruin the movie for me. I actually kind of like it sometimes when I know what heavy-emotional stuff is coming so that I can prepare accordingly. Not that I was emotionally unaffected by what I'm calling "The Reverse Khan"... you know why Vulcans aren't allowed to cry? Because it is fuckin' HEARTBREAKING.
And man, Chris Pine really was awesome in this movie, and so was Karl Urban. I really love him as Bones, I feel like every single scene he does is a love letter to Deforest Kelly, if that makes any sense. I think Pine and Quinto are trying to do something just a little bit different than their predecessors, which is awesome and makes sense from a character standpoint (their back stories are completely different now and would therefore alter their personalities), but Bones is essentially the same guy, and Urban has managed to pull it off brilliantly.
I always forget how over the top Scotty and Chekov's accents are. They're both Brilliant. I liked what they did with Scotty. I could have used a bit more Chekov, he seemed to barely be in it. Sulu got his little moment in the captains chair and that was cool.
... so, yes, I was spoiled for who Benedict was playing as well as The Reverse Khan, but you know what I wasn't spoiled for?! HOW AWESOME THE SPOCK-UHURA-KIRK THREESOME IS!!! Holy crow. How come no one told me about this? Every single scene with the tree were absolutely brilliant... I actually missed one of Kirk's lines, because I was laughing too hard at Spock's "unclear" line... seriously. You know, when I saw the first movie, I was really skeptical about the Uhura-Spock relationship, because I didn't want Uhura to be a love-interest... but it's kind of a bit like Zoe and Wash on Firefly really... I mean, it's not Uhura's SOLE purpose... and the fact of the matter is that I absolutely love how they've brought her more to the forefront and given her and Kirk this complete BFF dynamic, where he actually TELLS her how he's feeling and she drags him into their fights as a third party... and yeah, it's all pretty awesome. On the old series, and you'll have to forgive me for not having seen it for many many years, but I remember Uhura was mostly just a glorified secretary. I know she broke boundaries and did amazing things for equality and whatnot, but umm...yeah, I just remember he being the "phone girl". So, I really like that they're having her march up to Klingons and get into phaser fights and get beamed onto a movie transport so that she can stop a Vulcan from murdering someone for killing their third.
And meanwhile the Bones-Spock dynamic continues to be awesome.
Technical observations: Less lens flare!! Good job, J.J.!
As far as the other "twists" in the movie, I think I saw them coming when I was supposed to. As soon as Scotty said that he didn't know what was in the torpedoes, I figured that the admiral was probably a douchebag that was trying to start a war, and he was purposefully using Kirk's rage to his own advantage.
Anyway, yeah, good movie. As much as I agree with John Cho about pretty much everything he ever says, Benedict did a great job as Khan, I thought. There were only a few moments when I got a bit jarred with him reminding me more of Sherlock, and that was mainly when he was doing his rapid fire speech on board the military ship and whatever the hell they had to do there.
What else, what else? Is that it?
Oh, let's talk about The Reverse Khan ending again. I think the original Spock's death was more hard hitting, because they actually did the whole funeral and speech and HORRIBLE FINALITY thing...whereas this one, McCoy's eyes only just start watering when that tribble breathes and he realizes that Kirk is only "mostly dead"...but that being said, I don't think this franchise needs a "Search for Kirk" and BECAUSE this death has happened before and not been final, I think we're already expecting a miracle, so you might as well wrap it all up nicely in the one movie (because with the industry and J.J. Abrams being what they are, who knows when/if we'll get a third.) So, yeah, completely forgive them for not dwelling too long in the grief, plus you get the cool RAGE!SPOCK and then the tension of how to STOP Rage!Spock from Rage!Killing.
Just, FYI, I really love how they've kind of... rejigged Spock a bit in these AUs, because his human side really comes out the way a HUMAN would, in that when they've been repressed for a long time, they erupt like the holy wrath of hell. Spock can be a vulcan all he wants, but as soon as that control slips, he's NOT a well balanced in-control human, he's just as much of a fucked up mess as Kirk. I'd actually argue that Bones is the most well-balanced among the men. Uhura, of course, is also very well balanced emotionally, which is I think why she can date Spock.
Also, did they just add another female character to the crew? That's pretty sweet. I completely forget her name now. Marcus? Wallace? Karen? Kira? Anyway, I like her cute little sixties outfit.
(Oh yeah, and gratuitous underwear scene was gratuitous, I agree, my fellow feminists... I demand all males be completely naked for the duration of the third movie as a gesture of apology.)
Anyway, I'm glad whatshername is sticking around (hopefully she's sticking around). She was pretty awesome. At first, I thought that she might be in league with the enemy, but I was happy that she wasn't. Also, her whole trying to runaway from being transported thing was kind of terrifying... I mean... what did she think would happen? YOUR MOLECULES ARE BEING REPLICATED ELSEWHERE AND YOU ARE CEASING TO EXIST WHERE YOU ARE. FOR GOD'S SAKE, STAND STILL!
So yeah... good times...
I want to watch the movie again, damn it. Mmm...well, I'm sure I'll "watch" it again in gif format on Tumblr (that's how I watch Teen Wolf). One of these days though, I'm going to have to learn not to be a cheap bastard and start buying movies again.
Anywho, let me know if you want to discuss anything in comments! There will be spoilers galore of course, so don't go into comments unless you want to be spoilered for the movie or you've already seen it.